The Kid's Museum

Yesterday, we went to the Children's Museum--or as Alana calls it "the kid's museum". Angie and Jalen joined us, because we are always looking for an escape from home :) Alana and I have been before, but Angie and Jalen had not. We got there, only to be greeted by what had to be a billion little rambunctious kids running in every way possible. It was clear they were on a field trip, as they had little matching shirts...It was a mess. We couldn't even walk through there, let alone let the kids have their turn on anything without getting pushed off. After being unsuccessful at getting our money back, we were informed the groups were leaving. This convinced us to stay...and I was re-convinced that Alana is never going to school here :) Here are the pics from our day...

Grocery shopping.

Jalen driving the fire truck.

Alana on the motorcycle

Strumming the geetar

Uncovering fossils

In the 3 and under area (shh don't tell)

Jalen playin'

Building with blocks

Lovin' on each other :)

Aye Alana!

Taking time out to read.

Jalen's in a daze.
Alana wants to climb the ladder :)

Jumping on the huge keyboard.

Alana in a bubble, watching the train.

All aboard!

Alana, bring some of that money home with you!

How many moneys tall am I?

Alana in "the beetle"

Don't rock the boat!

Climbing to slide.

The blocks before Alana and Jalen got them.

And after...

We had loads of fun, post field trip groups :) I'm sure it won't be the last trip we make there. We just have to remember to go after 12 p.m. apparently!

Until next time...
Peace, Love and Homeschooling.

Exhausted!

7:45 a.m., 7:52, 8:27, 8:42, 8:57, 9:23, 9:30, 10:01, 10:20, 11:01, 11:21, 11:52, 12:26, 12:51, 1:13, 2:53, 4:09, 4:26, 4:41, 5:00, 5:27, and 6:47...

No, these are not the times I thought of Justin throughout my day today...To find that number you would have to multiply it by 10 and times that by 1,000. These, my friends are the times that Alana went potty today...and the day is not even over! Actually, today was even mild for how the last week or so has been. SIX of these trips to the potty were even during our trip to the Children's Museum (pictures to come, when I'm not so tired--of the museum NOT the potty breaks!)

You may wonder why I took it upon myself to write down these times. I want documentation! I want to go to the urologist in a couple of weeks with proof in my hands...not to just go in and say "Yeah, she pees a lot" and them blow me off. I have actually called and pleaded with them to let her come in sooner...she is on a waiting list for cancellations. I don't know what is going on with her, but please pray for her to be healed. It's so draining for both of us right now. She is such a trooper, but I know it's hard. I want to travel while Justin is gone and be able to visit family, but at this point I dread even a trip to the grocery store. It's THAT bad! The other thing is that she is not drinking very much (12 oz of juice total and a small thing of milk from McDonalds), so I'm afraid she is going to get dehydrated if this goes on much longer. For this reason, I am contemplating (and shuddering at the thought) measuring her "output" too.

I know this might be TMI for some of you :) I just wanted to keep everyone updated on what's going on...

Justin is doing well, after a man overboard and a fire in his berthing in the past 24 hours. The important thing is he is safe...and we are one week down!!!

Peace, Love and TP

Time Zones Apart

We are almost through our 4th Justin-less day. I can't believe it's only Tuesday :) Please continue to pray for him and Jeremy and the rest of the crew...We cannot possibly fathom what it's like to live that life. I heard a rumor that they are (or will soon be) in a different time zone. Here we go!

Alana seems to be adjusting well. She goes through her moments...The ones where she says "Daddy" in the saddest voice possible and then fake sniffles. She's taking care of me like Justin told her to, though--Except for the fake spiders she's been tormenting me with all day :)

Peace, Love and Time for a certain little girl to get a bath and go to bed

ALSO!!!
If any of you would like to send Justin an encouraging note via email or snail mail, please email me (allisonportas@gmail.com) and I will pass his info along.

Daddy Prayers.

(Yes, this is Justin's actual rack)

Alana just gets sweeter by the minute. Tonight when I was getting her ready for bed, she decided to start praying (unprompted) for Justin. It went a little something like this:

Dear Jesus,
Please help Daddy rest good tonight on his ship in his little rack. And please help him feel real comfortable.
Amen.

Ah, the faith of a child!

Please remember Justin in YOUR prayers as well tonight!

Peace, love and little words with big meaning

The Ike Deploys!

*Pause the Playlist music first!*

And there you have it, folks. I didn't go to the pier this morning because I didn't want to provoke anymore sad feelings than were necessary! Angie went, because she is bad like that :) She has some really good pictures on her blog, so check them out here if you want to!

No tears today. Maybe tonight. But for now, we are getting ready to head to church...Jesus--now there's something to celebrate!

Peace, Love and Deployments = Poo

It's Official...

Maybe the ship hasn't actually left port yet, but as far as we're concerned...he's gone. Today has been a day full of lots of love and emotion. It doesn't get any easier to say goodbye. You'd think that after being apart for 8 months the last time, 5 would seem like a breeze...it doesn't and it probably won't. The only thing we know is that our God is bigger than any deployment...and our love has withstood so much already, this can only make us stronger.

Alana loving on Daddy when he got home from work today

Does he think he's gonna be gone for a while?
Look at all this stuff?
Maybe if I sit on it he'll take me with him...

My two favorite people.

Alana is getting better at her photography skills

Gotta make those last minute phone calls!

Portas Love

And some more...

No Wii for 5 months either haha.

Beary can make it all better...

And if not, Daddy's kisses will...

It's ok, baby...Cry your heart out!

Cuddle times

Sweet dreams, Daddy.

I'd like to say I was all strong and tough today...but that would be a lie. I cleaned and did laundry til there was no more in sight...and then I did other useless stuff like play the wii to keep my mind off of Justin leaving. It didn't work. None of it. Wanna know why? Because Justin is my heart and the love of my life...He might be gone in the flesh but he is with me in spirit.

I love you, baby...We miss you already xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Peace, Love and Lonely Girls

Quick Update

I'm alive. I'm well. As well as you can expect me to be anyway :) I found out yesterday that Justin actually has to be on his ship by Friday night...so you would think that the fact he's leaving in less than 72 hours for 5 months would've hit me by now. It hasn't. I'm not sure it will until I am leaving him at the pier. I remember the emotions that welled up inside of me when I dropped him off in October 2006. It was super early in the morning, and I wasn't very familiar with the base. I got lost, in the dark, and all my "strength" somehow went down the drain. Funny how that happens! When I think about that, it kind of prepares me for what's to come...but at the same time, I know that it will be different. I am not looking forward to being away from my husband. Not even a little bit. However, I hope to use this time to grow and spend time focusing on things that I might neglect when he is here.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song." Psalm 28:7 (NIV)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 (NKJV)

Happy Valentine's Day! And yes, I look a mess...but hey, it's reality :) I am SO thankful that I got to spend today with my two sweethearts. We had a nice day, filled with love! I haven't been blogging much because Justin is on leave, and I am trying to enjoy every moment possible with him. I will probably be doing a mega picture post soon, catching you up on what's been going on! Today we baked special Valentine's Day cookies, thanks to a package from Grammy with all the special cookie cutters :)

Here's Alana with the bear Justin gave me and her Valentine bear and chocolates from Jalen!
Thanks, buddy!

Tonight we had church...It was kind of rough, knowing that it would be Justin's last service for a while. He leaves next Saturday...not sure how I will handle next week's service! Note to self: Waterproof mascara and tissues. So during worship, Pastor Fred came up like he normally did to pray and kind of get things rolling, and he said he had been awaken from a dream earlier this week. What I wasn't expecting was to hear the names "Justin and Allison Portas" roll off his tongue next! *Mind you, he's been in Niger, Africa for the last 2 weeks* He said he felt God speaking to him about us, and then he shared it with everyone. He let us know that no matter how "controlled" we feel by the Navy sometimes...how they tell us where to live, when we can be together, etc...that GOD is in control of the Navy. We may not control the Navy, but he knows Who does. It was very powerful, and I can't explain it...other than it was profound because it was something that we face every single day. I was totally caught off guard. I think Angie might have had some tears rollin', too! That's why I love her ;) We had a guest speaker tonight, and even he used us as part of his sermon! It's always awesome when God works in the ways He does, especially those that we least expect.

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful Valentine's Day! I'm going to get back to spending time with my hubby while I can!

Peace, Love and more LOVE xo

Sunny with a High of 75

It's true, the weather as of late has been bipolar and consequently so have I :) That's for all you RKers. SOOOO yesterday...we had 75 degree weather with lots of sunshine! I was thrilled!!! We spent the morning at the movies (best time to go now, with Saturday night church) and then had lunch with the McKinneys at the mall...it was so nice out that we decided to get together outside when we all got home. Chris Bradford came, too...we will soon forgive him for not bringing Felicia and Macie--maybe :) Anyway, it was a beautiful day and a fun time just hanging out with friends.

Alana and Jalen playing with the basketball

Justin and Jalen

All the guys playing football
(Jalen, Justin, Jeremy and Bradford)

Jalen and his cute self :)

Alana, the poser :)

Today is an even better day than yesterday, because this morning Justin picked up his leave chit! He is officially home for the week...and I couldn't be more excited!

Peace, Love and Happy to be alive

Our "Super Party"

I know I'm a couple days late posting this, but a trip to the dentist yesterday left me feeling less than capable of writing a blog :) We spent the afternoon/evening Sunday at the McKinneys having a Super Bowl get together...or as Alana called it, a "Super Party". I promised Alana Saturday night that if she slept all night without waking me up (this is a huge issue right now!) we could bake cookies the next morning. She made it through the night without a hitch, so I had to stick to my end of the bargain. These couldn't be just any cookies, she wanted to use cookie cutters and make them. So much for my favorite go-to break and bake cookies :) They turned out pretty cute, considering I'm not a baker...

Rolling the dough out

Sprinkling some with football sprinkles!

And ta-da!

I must say that Justin once said he knew he picked a good wife when I could spell "Roethlisberger" :) It also made him proud that I knew his jersey number...I can't say I knew the Cardinals one without a little help from the internet...And as much as Justin loves the Steelers, he really wanted Arizona to win this one. He is a fan of Fitzgerald...

Here's Justin and Alana in their Cardinal colors before the game!

Jalen in his cage...
JUST KIDDING!
Goofing on the stairs :)

Goooooo team, GO!!!

So the Cardinals lost, but not without a good fight at the end. We came home during the 3rd quarter so Alana could get some much needed sleep in her own bed. It got exciting in the last 5 minutes or so, right? I could really care less about football, but I totally enjoyed the time that we spent with our friends! I told Angie that pretty soon we will be wishing to watch games with the guys!

18 more days...not that I'm counting :(

Peace, Love and Football fun